Rafaelle Carrier and Zorak Paille add UCI wins in Puerto Rico
Ella MacPhee adds elite podium to early-season campaign
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Ella MacPhee. Photo: Pivot Cycles-OTE
Pivot Cycles-OTE’s tireless talent development program wrapped up a very solid start to the 2024 season in Puerto Rico with two wins over the weekend. After a string of podiums in at the Tropical MTB Challenge, the Blue Train landed XCC and XCO UCI wins in Rincon at Puerto Rico MTB Cup.
Paillé earns elite UCI win
Zorak Paillé opened proceedings with an elite men’s win in Short Track Cross Country (XCC). The Quebec racer out-kicked U.S.A. phenom Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing) for the win. Noah Ramsay of Ontario followed close behind in fifth place.
In the men’s XCO, it was Tyler Orschel of Ontario moving up onto the podium. Orschel finished third behind Amos and Brazil’s Alex Malacarne. Canadian Olympian Leandré Bouchard placed fourth. Paillé and Ramsay returned to the top 10, finishing sixth and eighth in the Rincon XCO.
Carrier earns UCI Junior Series win
Rincon hosted a UCI Junior Series XCO alongside the elite racing. Quebec’s Pan Am cyclocross champion, Rafaelle Carrier, earned the junior women’s XCO win in Puerto Rico for Pivot Cycles-OTE. Carrier beat Joy Mendez Garcia of Mexico and Alice Hoskins of the U.S.A. for the win. Her teammate, Maude Ruelland, followed in fourth. Alexia Harel made it three Canadians in the top five.
Gwen Gibson (Trek Factory Racing) dominated the elite women’s racing in Rincon, earning the XCC and XCO wins. Ella MacPhee added yet another Pivot Cycles-OTE podium, placing third beind Gibson and Marcia Flores Garcia (Mexico) in the elite women’s XCO. It’s another fantastic result for the under-23 MacPhee, who was also fourth in the XCC event.
